Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting member, which comprises a light guiding element and a housing.
Description of the Related Art
As a type of lighting members, a lighting member comprising a light guiding element to be connected to a light source has been known. In this sort of lighting member, light, which the light source emits, enters the inside of the light guiding element by way of an end face of the light guiding element. The light guiding element appears to shine or gleam, because the light entered the interior of the light guiding element reflects inside the light guiding element, or because the entered light emits to the outside via a surface of the light guiding element. The light guiding element thus shining gives to the lighting member various decorations that depend on a configuration of the light guiding element or shining parts of the light guiding element's configuration.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2014-100980, for instance, proposes such an engineering technique as covering a light guiding element partially by a material with low light transmissivity in order to diversify a decoration that the light guiding element displays. In a lighting member disclosed in the gazette, the light guiding element is held by and between two separated bodies (i.e., a decorative panel, and a decorated bezel) that constitute a housing. Consequently, some part of the light guiding element is visible through a clearance between the two separated bodies, and the other part is covered with the two separated bodies. That is, in accord with configurations or the clearance between the two separated bodies, the disclosed lighting member displays optical decorations that result from the light guiding element.
However, such a type of lighting member is associated with a problem of high manufacturing cost, because it requires a large quantity of component parts for the housing. Moreover, the lighting member also has such other problems as a bulky housing and attachment workability of the light guiding element onto the housing, or vice versa, which is less likely to be upgraded, because it necessitates a structure for engaging the two separated bodies making the housing with one another.